TAMPA, Fla. — Concert venues and movie theatres were some of the first businesses forced to close because of COVID-19 and remain some of the last able to reopen.
Tom DeGeorge, the owner of the Crowbar music venue in Ybor City, said aside from a few local shows, his business is barely hanging on until bands begin to tour again.
More than $300,000 in debt because of the pandemic, DeGeorge said if the situation was dire before, it’s getting downright desperate now for some venue owners and operators.
“I talk to people all the time and when I try to explain to them we were shuttered, we didn’t receive proper federal assistance and we still had to pay all of our bills,” DeGeorge said.
“People are shocked and I’m shocked people don’t know that.”
DeGeorge others spent months lobbying Congress to "Save our Stages" – a campaign to get financial aid to businesses like concert venues, movie theatres and museums.
RELATED: 'Save our stages': Fearing permanent closure, entertainment venues band together for federal help
Congress answered in December by including $15 billion in grants for the struggling performing arts sector in the $900 billion COVID relief package.
But more than two months after it was allocated by Congress, the aid has yet to materialize. DeGeorge and others say they haven’t even been able to apply for the grants.
“If I don’t get this grant there’s really no path forward for Crowbar,” he said.
The Small Business Administration is handling the distribution of the money. The agency is working on the program but can’t say when it will be ready to accept applications, CBS MoneyWatch reports.
Guidance issued at the beginning of the month on who can apply for what, only said the administration is “working expeditiously” to prepare applications.
As a member of the National Independent Venue Association, or NIVA, DeGeorge says he knows it’s a lot of money for the SBA to handle and it is working to get it right, which is causing the delay.
“What they’re trying to do is make sure the grant goes to the people that need it the most and we eliminate any sort of fraud,” he said, “so the venues that fought for it that need it, actually receive it.”
But the clock is ticking – for both small and larger venues.
“Some people, they’re just hanging on by their fingernails,” said Straz Center CEO Judy Lisi.
March 13 marks one year since the Tampa performing arts center was forced to close. Their big, money-making productions have yet to return. But Lisi said they are looking ahead to a full season in the fall as the pandemic lessens, so long as they can hold on until then.
“You know you just don’t switch on a button and say, ‘we’re back,’” Lisi said. “I’ve got to employ people to keep this place open, to do the programming, to do everything it takes to ramp up, so help us get from here to there – we’ll take care of ourselves once we get there.”
Joblessness remains high among performing artists. Nearly 20 percent of workers in the arts and entertainment industries out of work as January, reports CBS MoneyWatch, that’s triple the overall unemployment rate, according to Department of Labor data.
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